Twelve Denton High School chess players, sponsor Fred Mueller, and volunteer chess coach Alexey Root visited the opening ceremony Fall 2012 UTD GM Invitational. The games are available, live, at MonRoi. The tournament runs from November 16-20 and Alexey Root will cover it for Chess Lifemagazine.
Today was the awards day for the 10-week Greenhill School chess class. (I taught 9 of the 10 sessions). Director Cathleen Garcia handed out awards. I presented her with a copy of my sixth book Thinking With Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14. I also had all six of my books on display for parents and children. Greenhill School chess will resume February 5, 2013.
At Denton High School chess club today, Club President Luis G. showed a game that he won at the Scott Watson Memorial Tournament. Luis paused the game at several points so that pairs of his fellow chess club members could analyze those positions.
Dr. Alexey Root taught bughouse, from People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess. Luckily, the number of children (24) was divisible by 4, allowing for six bughouse tables. After playing two games against the same team (switching who played who for the second game), each team took on a new team.
At Denton High School Chess Club on Friday, November 2, 2012, Dr. Alexey Root taught an activity about Space. Mr. Fred Mueller, the club sponsor, left to pick up the club T-shirts. After he returned, Dr. Root had the students pose with Mr. Mueller for a photo. Just before taking the photo, Dr. Root announced she had a surprise for Mr. Mueller.
I missed the October 26, 2012 Denton High School chess club meeting because I was presenting at the Texas Council for the Social Studies. Twenty people attended my talk on Teaching Social Studies with Chess, based on my book. In my absence, International Master Doug Root played a simultaneous exhibition against 10 Denton High School chess club members. Here are press releases about two upcoming events for me.
Each group spent about 15 minutes with me. When not with me, each group played chess games supervised by the Chess Program Director. I taught the Game Theory Challenge from pages 41-43 of my just-published book Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14. For the Beginner and Experienced groups, I taught the rules of castling and we discussed why chess players castle.
Each group spent about 15 minutes with me. When not with me, each group played chess games supervised by the Chess Program Director.
Pawn Game activity from Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving, including explanations of en passant and promotion but with time for only one trial. Also, continued Pawn Game after promotion to try to checkmate.
For the Denton High School Chess Club today, William Root showed his loss versus expert Dion Su. Su won the October 13, 2012 Scott Watson Memorial Tournament. William Root tied for 2nd through 5th and got 2nd on tiebreak. Denton High School was top high team. Seven Denton High School students participated on October 13.
Each group spent about 15 minutes with me. When not with me, each group played chess games supervised by the Chess Program Director.
Basic Endgame Checkmates, part two
Dr. Alexey Root gave a lecture based on the handouts Calculating Ratings and Guidelines for Post Mortems. The Handouts are available at the Denton HS chess club Web site. Then the Denton High School students played notated chess games, stopped them with 10 minutes left to go in class, and did post mortems on the games.
My presentation “Teaching Social Studies with Chess” is scheduled for Friday, October 26, 2012, 1:30p.m. to 2:45p.m. at the annual conference for the Texas Council For the Social Studies. I will feature lesson plans from my book People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess.
